Broad Beans

[reetnproper]

Broad beans as a green manure - might be just the solution I was looking for in respect of the school veg patch (and possibly my own). Nice one. Thanks guys

Reet
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[Two_Sheds]

Don't sow broadies too early: you want them short and small when winter sets in. Any tall lush green growth will only get battered by gales and frosted (mine go in direct in Nov, so bring that fwd to mid Oct perhaps if you're further north than me)

[reetnproper]

Don't sow broadies too early: you want them short and small when winter sets in. Any tall lush green growth will only get battered by gales and frosted (mine go in direct in Nov, so bring that fwd to mid Oct perhaps if you're further north than me)

Thanks for that TS. I'll pop into Wilkos next time I'm in town to see if they have any Aquadulce Claudia (unlikely), so I may have to force myself to drive Annie all the way to the garden centre to get some suitable for over wintering.

Reet
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[northepaul]

Reet, I think I have some spare ones which you can have for an SAE, if you want them PM me

[bazzaboy]

That's kidney (French) beans

Oh no, TS is really confusing me now. Round these parts (north Notts) locals call runner beans "kidney beans" and in vain I try to point out "kidney beans" are the dark red kidney-shaped ones (get it? lol..) as used for example in chili con carne (they are also called chile beans); they're not runner beans and they're not French beans.....:-) As the topic of raw beans is also touched upon in this thread it's as well to note that kidney beans (the red kidney-shaped ones....) can be very toxic and must be vigorously boiled to eliminate this... cooking at less than boiling (e.g. only in a slow cooker) increases the toxicity so always boil vigorously for 10 mins then they're safe....

[bazzaboy]

...... always boil vigorously for 10 mins then they're safe....

er, "allegedly!"

[Two_Sheds]

Round these parts (north Notts) locals call runner beans "kidney beans" .

It's less confusing if you use the Latin names
Vicia faba is the broad bean
Phaseolus coccineus is the runner bean and is a very close relative of

Phaseolus vulgaris the French/common/green bean.

The toxic compound phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin, is present in many varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris but is especially concentrated in the red kidney bean.
P.coccineus has small quantities of phytohaemagglutinin and there's little in vicia faba

The toxin is measured in units of hau:
Raw red kidney beans - 20,000 to 70,000 hau
Cooked red kidney beans - 200 to 400 hau
White kidney beans - about one-third the amount of toxin as the red variety
Broad beans (Vicia faba) - 5 to 10% the amount that red kidney beans contain

Phaseolus vulgaris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has a good description of the different beans available

there's a science bit here that I would need translated: Phytohemagglutinin gene expression during see... [Plant Mol Biol. 1992] - PubMed - NCBI

and squillions of phaseolus here: M.M.P.N.D. - Sorting Phaseolus names

[Two_Sheds]

"kidney beans" are ...not French beans..

Yes, they are. They're the seeds of the French bean They come in different colours, not just red
How to grow French Beans